San Jose has a pair of winning ideas in the Knight Cities Challenge, among 32 nationwide that”ll be sharing in $5 million of funding from the Knight Foundation.

I know what you”re hoping, but my idea for a zip line between the Silicon Valley Capital Club and the Fairmont Hotel wasn”t one of the winners. The selected projects announced Tuesday morning are ones that actually have a chance of improving life in San Jose and addressing two pressing issues: downtown retail and housing.

The first idea, dubbed San Pedro Squared, is a plan forwarded by the San Jose Downtown Association to turn four bays on the ground floor of the Market/San Pedro Street parking garage into retail kiosks, potentially selling items like flowers and apparel. Blage Zelalich, deputy director of the Downtown Association, says the idea of activating the dead and dreary east side of San Pedro Street has been percolating for a few years, but it”s finally getting some love with the $139,000 in seed funding and an 18-month timeline to get the project finished.

“We are very happy to see something we have been talking about for a while come to fruition,” Zelalich said, adding that they”re hoping to find the right partners to bridge a funding gap and get retailers in the space before the 18-month deadline.

The other project is even more innovative and ambitious. Houslets, a proposal by Tim McCormick, a Palo Alto designer and product developer, is getting $40,000 to prototype and deploy modular living and work space units as a way to ease the affordable housing crunch in San Jose. A look at the website, www.houslets.com, gives you an idea of how these quick, DIY spaces would work.

Danny Harris, the program director in San Jose for the Knight Foundation, said these two projects stood out from the 450-plus ideas submitted for San Jose because they focused on “disruptions” related to urban challenges.

“These were small-scale concepts that addressed challenges in San Jose but also could be applied to other downtown areas,” Harris said. “They both re-imagined the way people are living.”

And what of the 448 other ideas that didn”t get funding? Harris said he”s heard from some people — and I have, too — who say they”re going to try to make their idea happen anyway. He think that”s fantastic, and what city couldn”t hope for having more than 400 people trying to make the place they live and work better?

POETIC QUEST: Former San Jose Arts Commissioner David Eisbach is working on the San Jose Poetry Festival, which will fill the Le Petit Trianon theater, 72 North Fifth St., with verse from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 12. The day will include workshops, lectures and readings from a variety of styles including slam and haiku.

Now, San Jose hasn”t had a poetry festival since 2007, and I asked Eisbach why there was such a long gap in between. “Seems like you have to have someone who”s crazy enough to push it,” said Eisbach, who was inspired by going to Chicago”s Humanities Festival for eight years in a row. “If it goes well, I hope to make it an entire weekend next year.”

San Jose has a pair of winning ideas in the Knight Cities Challenge, among 32 nationwide that”ll be sharing in $5 million of funding from the Knight Foundation.

I know what you”re hoping, but my idea for a zip line between the Silicon Valley Capital Club and the Fairmont Hotel wasn”t one of the winners. The selected projects announced Tuesday morning are ones that actually have a chance of improving life in San Jose and addressing two pressing issues: downtown retail and housing.

The first idea, dubbed San Pedro Squared, is a plan forwarded by the San Jose Downtown Association to turn four bays on the ground floor of the Market/San Pedro Street parking garage into retail kiosks, potentially selling items like flowers and apparel. Blage Zelalich, deputy director of the Downtown Association, says the idea of activating the dead and dreary east side of San Pedro Street has been percolating for a few years, but it”s finally getting some love with the $139,000 in seed funding and an 18-month timeline to get the project finished.

“We are very happy to see something we have been talking about for a while come to fruition,” Zelalich said, adding that they”re hoping to find the right partners to bridge a funding gap and get retailers in the space before the 18-month deadline.

The other project is even more innovative and ambitious. Houslets, a proposal by Tim McCormick, a Palo Alto designer and product developer, is getting $40,000 to prototype and deploy modular living and work space units as a way to ease the affordable housing crunch in San Jose. A look at the website, www.houslets.com, gives you an idea of how these quick, DIY spaces would work.

Danny Harris, the program director in San Jose for the Knight Foundation, said these two projects stood out from the 450-plus ideas submitted for San Jose because they focused on “disruptions” related to urban challenges.

“These were small-scale concepts that addressed challenges in San Jose but also could be applied to other downtown areas,” Harris said. “They both re-imagined the way people are living.”

And what of the 448 other ideas that didn”t get funding? Harris said he”s heard from some people — and I have, too — who say they”re going to try to make their idea happen anyway. He think that”s fantastic, and what city couldn”t hope for having more than 400 people trying to make the place they live and work better?

POETIC QUEST: Former San Jose Arts Commissioner David Eisbach is working on the San Jose Poetry Festival, which will fill the Le Petit Trianon theater, 72 North Fifth St., with verse from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 12. The day will include workshops, lectures and readings from a variety of styles including slam and haiku.

Now, San Jose hasn”t had a poetry festival since 2007, and I asked Eisbach why there was such a long gap in between. “Seems like you have to have someone who”s crazy enough to push it,” said Eisbach, who was inspired by going to Chicago”s Humanities Festival for eight years in a row. “If it goes well, I hope to make it an entire weekend next year.”

San Jose has a pair of winning ideas in the Knight Cities Challenge, among 32 nationwide that”ll be sharing in $5 million of funding from the Knight Foundation.

I know what you”re hoping, but my idea for a zip line between the Silicon Valley Capital Club and the Fairmont Hotel wasn”t one of the winners. The selected projects announced Tuesday morning are ones that actually have a chance of improving life in San Jose and addressing two pressing issues: downtown retail and housing.

The first idea, dubbed San Pedro Squared, is a plan forwarded by the San Jose Downtown Association to turn four bays on the ground floor of the Market/San Pedro Street parking garage into retail kiosks, potentially selling items like flowers and apparel. Blage Zelalich, deputy director of the Downtown Association, says the idea of activating the dead and dreary east side of San Pedro Street has been percolating for a few years, but it”s finally getting some love with the $139,000 in seed funding and an 18-month timeline to get the project finished.

“We are very happy to see something we have been talking about for a while come to fruition,” Zelalich said, adding that they”re hoping to find the right partners to bridge a funding gap and get retailers in the space before the 18-month deadline.

The other project is even more innovative and ambitious. Houslets, a proposal by Tim McCormick, a Palo Alto designer and product developer, is getting $40,000 to prototype and deploy modular living and work space units as a way to ease the affordable housing crunch in San Jose. A look at the website, www.houslets.com, gives you an idea of how these quick, DIY spaces would work.

Danny Harris, the program director in San Jose for the Knight Foundation, said these two projects stood out from the 450-plus ideas submitted for San Jose because they focused on “disruptions” related to urban challenges.

“These were small-scale concepts that addressed challenges in San Jose but also could be applied to other downtown areas,” Harris said. “They both re-imagined the way people are living.”

And what of the 448 other ideas that didn”t get funding? Harris said he”s heard from some people — and I have, too — who say they”re going to try to make their idea happen anyway. He think that”s fantastic, and what city couldn”t hope for having more than 400 people trying to make the place they live and work better?

POETIC QUEST: Former San Jose Arts Commissioner David Eisbach is working on the San Jose Poetry Festival, which will fill the Le Petit Trianon theater, 72 North Fifth St., with verse from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 12. The day will include workshops, lectures and readings from a variety of styles including slam and haiku.

Now, San Jose hasn”t had a poetry festival since 2007, and I asked Eisbach why there was such a long gap in between. “Seems like you have to have someone who”s crazy enough to push it,” said Eisbach, who was inspired by going to Chicago”s Humanities Festival for eight years in a row. “If it goes well, I hope to make it an entire weekend next year.”

San Jose has a pair of winning ideas in the Knight Cities Challenge, among 32 nationwide that”ll be sharing in $5 million of funding from the Knight Foundation.

I know what you”re hoping, but my idea for a zip line between the Silicon Valley Capital Club and the Fairmont Hotel wasn”t one of the winners. The selected projects announced Tuesday morning are ones that actually have a chance of improving life in San Jose and addressing two pressing issues: downtown retail and housing.

The first idea, dubbed San Pedro Squared, is a plan forwarded by the San Jose Downtown Association to turn four bays on the ground floor of the Market/San Pedro Street parking garage into retail kiosks, potentially selling items like flowers and apparel. Blage Zelalich, deputy director of the Downtown Association, says the idea of activating the dead and dreary east side of San Pedro Street has been percolating for a few years, but it”s finally getting some love with the $139,000 in seed funding and an 18-month timeline to get the project finished.

“We are very happy to see something we have been talking about for a while come to fruition,” Zelalich said, adding that they”re hoping to find the right partners to bridge a funding gap and get retailers in the space before the 18-month deadline.

The other project is even more innovative and ambitious. Houslets, a proposal by Tim McCormick, a Palo Alto designer and product developer, is getting $40,000 to prototype and deploy modular living and work space units as a way to ease the affordable housing crunch in San Jose. A look at the website, www.houslets.com, gives you an idea of how these quick, DIY spaces would work.

Danny Harris, the program director in San Jose for the Knight Foundation, said these two projects stood out from the 450-plus ideas submitted for San Jose because they focused on “disruptions” related to urban challenges.

“These were small-scale concepts that addressed challenges in San Jose but also could be applied to other downtown areas,” Harris said. “They both re-imagined the way people are living.”

And what of the 448 other ideas that didn”t get funding? Harris said he”s heard from some people — and I have, too — who say they”re going to try to make their idea happen anyway. He think that”s fantastic, and what city couldn”t hope for having more than 400 people trying to make the place they live and work better?

POETIC QUEST: Former San Jose Arts Commissioner David Eisbach is working on the San Jose Poetry Festival, which will fill the Le Petit Trianon theater, 72 North Fifth St., with verse from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 12. The day will include workshops, lectures and readings from a variety of styles including slam and haiku.

Now, San Jose hasn”t had a poetry festival since 2007, and I asked Eisbach why there was such a long gap in between. “Seems like you have to have someone who”s crazy enough to push it,” said Eisbach, who was inspired by going to Chicago”s Humanities Festival for eight years in a row. “If it goes well, I hope to make it an entire weekend next year.”